KL hopes to settle RI oil dispute through talks

KL hopes to settle RI oil dispute through talks

Malaysia has said it hopes to settle a dispute with Indonesia over two oil exploration areas through a series of discussions and has appealed to Jakarta not to bring the case to international courts, news reports said Thursday.

Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said in Kuala Lumpur he believed the dispute over two oil and gas blocs off Borneo island could be solved through bilateral meetings.

"We hope that Indonesia will take the position of discussing rather than going through proceedings," he was quoted as saying by the official Bernama news agency.

Syed Hamid said Malaysia would continue to send protest notes to Indonesia over reports that Jakarta was already awarding exploration contracts for the two areas.

"We will continue to do that because we are the claimant of the area and the area should not be awarded to anyone," he said.

He urged Indonesia to respond to calls to hold a meeting to discuss the dispute and warned that bringing the case to the international courts would hamper exploration progress into the two blocs.

Both governments have laid claim to the areas, with Malaysia's Petronas and Indonesia's Pertamina oil company both reportedly planning to award exploration contracts for the blocs, located in waters off Malaysia's eastern Sabah state.

Malaysia is currently also engaged in a territorial dispute with neighboring Brunei, but officials said the two countries are moving closer to resolving it.

Indonesia is Southeast Asia's largest oil producer, followed by Malaysia and Brunei. -- DPA